A blogger imprisoned in Mauritania for almost four years, and who at various times was sentenced to death, now looks set to be released. The IHEU welcomes and celebrates the release of Mohamed M’kheitir, but insists that his welfare and security must be ensured. Mohamed Cheikh Ould M’kheitir (or Mkhaitir) was first arrested and detained early [...][Continue Reading...]

In a statement officially supported by the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania (IRA-Maritanie), the International Humanist and Ethical Union once again drew the UN Human Rights Council’s attention to the situation of anti-slavery activists in Mauritania. In the context of a discussion on arbitrary detention and contemporary form of slavery, amongst a [...][Continue Reading...]

An appeals court in Mauritania yesterday upheld a death sentence handed down to Mohamed Cheikh Ould M’kheitir in December 2014 for “apostasy”. The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has condemned the decision and called on the Mauritanian government to abolish the crimes of ‘apostasy’ and ‘blasphemy’. As we reported last week, there were fears that M’kheitir would not [...][Continue Reading...]

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has called on the Mauritanian authorities to cease their harassment, intimidation and ill-treatment of anti-slavery campaigners in the country and to remove the crime of apostasy from its national legislation. The call came as part of the UN Human Rights Council’s conclusions on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) [...][Continue Reading...]

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has raised the plight of anti-slavery activists in Mauritania with the UN Human Rights Council. In a written statement to the Council, the IHEU set out the current human rights situation for those campaigning against slavery in the country and called for international action. At the end of [...][Continue Reading...]

A writer in Mauritania has been sentenced to death for “apostasy”, putting the crime of leaving Islam on a par with the country’s sentencing for terrorism and murder. The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has called the sentence “profoundly tyrannical” and called on the government to take urgent action to repeal the apostasy law. The defendant, Mohamed [...][Continue Reading...]

Anti-slavery campaigner Biram Dah Abeid was arrested on 10 November in Mauritania. The award-winning human rights campaigner has worked with the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) at the United Nations, campaigning for human dignity and an end to slavery in Mauritania. Biram is president of the NGO Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) and [...][Continue Reading...]

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has spoken out about slavery in Mauritania on several occasions at the United Nations. Mauritania remains the country with the highest prevalence of slavery in the world, and yet we still frequently hear reports of anti-slavery campaigners being harassed there. After the recent arbitrary arrest of human rights defender, [...][Continue Reading...]

On 13 September 2013, in collaboration with the anti-slavery association IRA-Mauritanie and Center for Inquiry USA, IHEU hosted a seminar at the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the Palais des Nations, Geneva: “Human Rights in Mauritania: Slavery, Forced Marriage and Death for Apostasy“. Mauritania has a higher proportion of its people [...][Continue Reading...]

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has again crticised Mauritania for its failures to tackle endemic slavery in the country. Mauritania is little known internationally, a sparsely populated country with a low level of tourism in north-west Africa. It is not in the forefront of those states most closely associated with Islamism and Sharia [...][Continue Reading...]